Starting Your eCommerce Store Using Shopify? Here are a few pointers.

Shopify is a complete eCommerce solution, enabling merchants to reach customers via an online store. Shopify is a cloud-based hosted solution, which means the platform is kept up-to-date, can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and doesn’t require a merchant to have their own web servers or a third party hosting company.

Plans

Shopify offers a 14 day trial period for merchants who would like to explore the solution for themselves. After the trial period ends, there are three main* plan options available:

Basic Shopify - The Basic Shopify plan is the entry-level option, great for fledgling businesses new to the eCommerce space. It is available for $29/mo and includes:

2 staff accounts (logins)

Unlimited products and file storage

Print shipping labels

Fraud analysis

Manual order creation

Discount codes

Abandoned cart recovery

POS App

Shopify - This mid-level plan is aimed toward growing businesses. For $79/mo, it includes all of the features from the Basic plan with the addition of features such as:

5 staff accounts

Gift cards

Professional reporting

Register shifts

Hardware support

Integration with 3rd party POS apps

Advanced Shopify - The Advanced Shopify plan is for businesses that are in scaling mode, looking to grow their eCommerce sales and presence. It is $299/mo and adds features to the Shopify plan, including:

15 staff accounts

Advanced reporting

Third-party shipping rate calculation

All of the above plans also offer 24/7 support and a website with blog. To find more information on plans, see Shopify’s site for a full comparison.

Annual plans are discounted 10%, and biennial 20%, when paid up front.

Also available are Shopify Lite which enables shopping via Facebook for small businesses, and Shopify Plus for enterprise-level requirements.

Free Extras from Shopify

There are many free benefits to using the Shopify platform. Shopify Tools is a collection of templates, generators, and other useful actions for merchant shops. The QR Code generator can launch actions or payments from the customer’s mobile device, simply by scanning. There are also many templates like T&C’s, invoices, purchase orders, and shipping labels.

Accept Payments

Payment processing for eCommerce is an important factor, and Shopify enables merchants to offer customers many options whether in-store, online, or via mobile.

Shopify’s credit card processing payment system allows merchants to accept retail, online, or mobile payments using a variety of payment methods. Customers can use credit, debit, or prepaid card options. Shopify even offers a card reader, which turns a mobile phone into a secure mobile POS.

DPO is an authorized PSP for Shopify, fully and seamlessly integrating with storefronts and eCommerce sites who utilise the platform.